'Tesla Roadsters Creating What May Be The Red Planet's First Traffic Jam

Aero-News April 1 Special Edition

SpaceX engineers are scrambling to resolve a possible orbital conflict 500 miles above the surface of Mars.

When SpaceX launched their Falcon Heavy Rocket in 2018, the goal was to demonstrate the capability of a new design heavy lift vehicle and to prove system concepts and functionality. Elon Musk's own Tesla Roadster was added to the launch vehicle as the payload. A full size, space-suited mannequin dubbed "Starman" was the sole occupant of the Roadster.

The launch was a stunning success. The subsequent recovery of both boosters back at Cape Canaveral, coupled with the 3rd stage booster propelling the payload on its 200 million year journey, somewhere out in deep-space, captivated the world. The public relations fervor regarding Starman and the stunning pictures beamed from on-board cameras, breathed new life into our fledgling private space program.

All had proceeded as planned, with Starman zipping along towards Mars and its elliptical solar orbit. But because the payload has no scientific purpose or instrumentation, the present location can only be estimated. Lack of any sort of guidance or propulsion systems means course corrections are not possible. Actual visual sightings have been obtained through the use of powerful Earth-bound telescopes, and SpaceX controllers have updated its location a few times with NASA and on social media since its launch. Through those observations, SpaceX has found that the roadster is not following a perfect trajectory. One SpaceX staffer not authorized to speak to the media said Starman "is behaving a bit like a drunk driver. I guess he's drunk on space."

Elon Musk Tweeted, "OOPS! From now on, we'll put a little more thought into our launches."

The last known position of the roadster had Starman approaching Mars' gravity well. Initial calculations had it passing well clear of Mars and heading out into the solar system on its endless Sunday drive. Recent telescopic observations however, have it passing closer to Mars than was planned. Gravitational forces have acted on it like a cosmic exit ramp, and the vehicle is starting to lose some of its velocity. This slowing down now has the payload loitering in an area that will be transected by no less than two upcoming Mars missions.

NASA and ESA had planned to utilize the area for successful deployment into a stable Mars orbit on those future missions. Hyper-accurate orbital insertion vectors necessary for mission completion are now in jeopardy.

Given the high cost of these missions, coupled with the time involved with planning and execution of  these missions, there is a chance of a possible orbital conflict. When asked about interference or collision possibilities, sources within SpaceX, ESA, ULA, NASA and other aerospace agencies, state serious reconsideration is being given to delaying these next two missions to allow for orbital separation.

Because of the positioning of Earth and Mars, the next favorable launch window is estimated to be 5 years from now. Both of the two future missions were scheduled to launch early next year. Various space programs are being reevaluated to compensate for this delay.

FMI: www.spacex.com, www.nasa.gov